PBL Inter- Chapter Bonfires

On Sept. 20,2008 CSUF PBL hosted the first So Cal inter chapter bonfire at Huntington Beach. This was a membership discount event for all CSUF PBL members that attended, but it was also a fun networking social in conjunction with CHC PBL. We so much fun with CHC PBL that they invited us to their own bonfire on October 10th at Corona Del Mar! Thanks CHC we had lots of fun with you at both bonfires!

Catchin' Up on the Green Conversation!

Conversation took a short breather as we began the new school year! Let's catch up!!!

#4: Not to be outdone in the freight game, Wal-Mart is providing funding to the biggest truck manufacturers -- ArvinMeritor, Eaton, International, and Peterbilt -- to develop the first heavy-duty diesel-hybrid 18-wheeler. Wal-Mart, which operates the second-largest truck fleet in the country, will test the prototypes next year.

#5: Austin-based concert promoter C3 Presents made news when it banned Styrofoam cups from the sixth annual Austin City Limits Music Festival this year. Beneath the quick-hit media pop was a deeper story: Following the model the company created for Lollapalooza, C3 took a holistic approach to greening nearly every aspect of ACL, from bamboo-based concert T-shirts to gel sanitizer in the bathrooms to bio-diesel power generators.

#6: It's not just hippies making the special-events world eco-friendly. The Philadelphia Eagles claim to be the greenest team in the NFL--and not just because of the color of its jerseys. Starting this season, the team's "Go Green" environmental campaign has its stadium cleaning crew making two full sweeps after each game--one to pick up recyclables and another for trash.

I probably said this before...but it takes small steps like the three listed above to help make a huge impact on this planet. All we have to do is change our habits just slightly to do our part on helping the environment. We're not asking you to go extreme and get all hippie on us...but let's just do our part. No more styrofoam products at chapter events!!! Carpooling as much as we possibly can!!! Recycling everything from paper to e-waste. And help make our friends and family aware of the small things we can do to make a difference. And hey, if you DO want to get big with this, get involved with the chapter's upcoming E-Waste project. Or give us more ideas on how we can contribute like getting the campus to also get rid of styrofoam at any of the food places on campus and more! Someone has to speak up and if we do it together, we can make it happen!

What are your thoughts and opinions? Keep the conversation going!


- Michelle Nakaji
Co-Internal Director of Leadership Development
michellenakaji@csufpbl.org


[from Fast Company: 50 Ways to Green Your Business http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/50-ways-to-green.html?page=1 ]

Tech Rush 08

We have been invited to attend this year's Tech Rush hosted by the Walt Disney Company. For those of you interested in Disney technology, networking with Disney professionals , recruiters and other students, this event is for you!. If you want to attend you MUST RSVP by this Sunday. Contact me if you are interested!

Jackie Perez

President

jackieperez@csufpbl.org

Heal the Bay: Santa Monica Beach Clean Up

On Sunday September 14, 2008 - CSUF and UCR PBL participated in the Heal the Bay program Santa Monica Beach! Early in the morning we set out to clean the beach and help the environment. It was surprising to find so many cigarette butts , glass bottles and plastic! . In the 2 hrs that we volunteered, my team and I found over 65 cigarette butts, and 20+ glass pieces!! Other teams found more!

We were amazed that we found so much glass in the sand. In one instance, Michelle found a big piece of glass sticking out from the sand , and when we started digging further we kept finding more and more glass. We spent about 10 minutes in that spot digging up all the big and tiny pieces of glass. That glass could have cut someone on the beach!I was surprised by the severeness of the problem and saddened that all of that goes into the ocean and possibly hurt marine life.

Oher items that we found ranged from food wrappers to bottle caps and even clothes. I am happy that in a small way PBL was able to make a difference. Its satisfying to know that we might have saved a little kid from cutting his foot with glass in the sand, or toxic cigarettes going into the Ocean.

After the clean up- we all ate at Bucca Di Beppo and enjoyed the Santa Monica Pier. Michelle, Diana, Victor, Yari and myself even rode the Ferris wheel!

Thanks again to all the volunteers to came out and helped out to Heal The Bay.

Jackie Perez

President

PBL 101 a Success!

Hello Awesome PBL'ers!

Yesterday was PBL 101 - and we had a great turn-out! We filled up the room! I was excited to see so many people interested in our organization! We are definitely in for a great semester!

Remember that we have a couple of events coming up- The beach clean up with UCR PBL , and our bonfire! If you want more info about either of those events please let me know!

We also have an office position available for anyone that is interested. I encourage you to apply for our Executive Assistant position to get involved in all of the behind-the-scenes work that takes to run CSUF PBL and to make a difference in our chapter.

Next week we will be having a guest speaker!! He will be speaking about Sales Leadership!! We hope to see you all there!!

Jackie Perez

President

Tabling and Discoverfest!

For the past two weeks, the dedicated CSUF PBL officer team has been tabling outside of the new Mihaylo Hall and in the quad during Discoverfest to recruit new members!!   

We are all very excited to see so many new and interested people stop by our table to learn more about what PBL has to offer! 

Our first meeting - also known as PBL 101- will be next wednesday Sept 10 at 4pm in Gilman AB in the TSU! We are looking forward to seeing and meeting alot of new people!

The officer team is working hard in putting together a great year for everyone! Please take a look at our calendar on the right column for our upcoming events including: 

1. Santa Monica Beach clean up with UCR on Sept. 14th

2. PBL Bonfire! with Crafton Hills College, Fullerton College, and other PBL chapters from Southern California on Sept 20th @ Huntington Beach.

Also, make sure to join our facebook group so that you can get updates and invitations to our upcoming events! You can find our facebook link on the right column aswell. :D

If you have any questions or are interested in joining!  Please contact me! @ jackieperez@csufpbl.org!

Sorry y'all I haven'thad the time for writing the blog of officer summer retreat but I will do my best to finish it soon, but in the meantime here its an article about the new technology that Google is coming up with to compete with Microsoft! (Los Angeles Times September 2, 2008)

Google to launch browser to compete with Microsoft

Chrome intensifies the battle between the tech giants and continues Web software's drive to supersede the operating system.

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 2, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Bidding to dominate not only what people do on the Web but how they get from site to site, Google Inc. plans to release a browser today to compete with the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox.

It's yet another salvo in the company's intensifying battle with Microsoft Corp., which last week released a beta, or test, version of Internet Explorer 8 that makes it easier to block ads from Google and others.

"This is the first truly serious threat that Microsoft has faced from a well-funded platform," said technology analyst Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group.

A beta version of the Google browser, called Chrome, will be available for download by Windows computer users in more than 100 countries. Chrome will offer features that make it easier, faster and safer to browse the Web, the Mountain View, Calif., search giant said in a blog postMonday.

Google has long ruled how people search the Web. Now it is going after how they navigate it, analysts say.

"We like this move by Google and believe it can help to increase or at least maintain its leading search market share," Needham & Co. analyst Mark May said in an e-mail. "As the starting point for nearly every user's Internet experience, the browser is important online real estate. The market share gains by Firefox in a short period of time show to us that users are looking for better browser experiences."

One feature will allow consumers to run Web-based applications independently, which means that if one program crashes it won't take down the browser.

By improving the reliability of such online services, Chrome could mark another step in the browser's drive to supersede the computer operating system in importance, said Matt Rosoff, analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a research firm focused on Microsoft products and strategy.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft holds a virtual monopoly in operating systems, but their importance in the computing landscape is diminishing as Web-based programs become the starting point for many users.

Chrome will be an open-source product, meaning anyone can modify the software code and add features.

Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch called the browser market "highly competitive" and said he remained confident that consumers would stick with Microsoft's product.

Google executives have expressed concern over the years that Microsoft could use its dominant browser to route consumers to its own search engine, which has sputtered despite years of effort and billions of dollars in investment.

Explorer 8 enables a user to surf the Web without the sites he or she visits being tracked. Google and other Internet companies -- including Microsoft -- use such information to finely target the ads they display. People who use Chrome could give Google even more information about their online habits.

Launching a browser war with Microsoft is a bold move for Google because Microsoft controls nearly 75% of the market. It also could cause trouble for Firefox, a free browser that is gaining popularity but still trails far behind Explorer.

The nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which manages Firefox, has benefited from engineering help and money from Google. In 2005, Google hired the lead engineer behind Firefox, who splits his time between Google and Mozilla. Just last week, the two extended their partnership, which makes Google the browser's default search engine, through 2011.

Also potentially vulnerable are Opera and Apple Inc.'s Safari, which have captured much smaller fractions of the user population.

News about Chrome broke Monday after the website Google Blogoscoped reported receiving a comic book from Google that outlined the details of the new browser. A Google blog post later explained that it had inadvertently released the news. "We believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the Web," the post said.

The browser, which Google says was built from scratch, has been in the works for two years. It is intended as a "modern platform for Web pages and applications" that can run faster and be more responsive, the post said.

Even coming from a universally known brand such as Google, the browser might not catch on. Google may encounter resistance from consumers, who typically switch browsers out of frustration, not for new features, Enderle said.

Rosoff said Google will attract its share of "curiosity seekers" and can rely on distribution deals to increase its market share.

"I think this could be a real contender," he said.